• New York Times, Wednesday, April 26, 2006 11:45 AM

Kao Brands has forged a multifaceted package with the Walt Disney Co. that could serve as the poster child for the kind of experiential marketing deal companies are seeking in their ongoing efforts to forge closer ties with consumers outside the realms of traditional advertising. The deal is designed to promote the introduction of the company’s Luminous Color Glaze line, a hair coloring product previously sold only in salons.  At the center of the deal is the Luminous Color Glaze Fan Zone, which will be located near the Kodak Theater in Los Angeles this Friday when the 33rd annual Daytime Emmy Awards are televised live on Disney-owned ABC. The Fan Zone site will have bleachers, where devotees of soap operas and other daytime fare will gather as the awards presentation proceeds inside the theater, and will be seen and mentioned periodically during the broadcast, which is scheduled to open with a musical performance from the Fan Zone featuring Rick Springfield of the ABC soap "General Hospital." The agreement also includes a contest on the ABC daytime talk show "The View," with winners to be announced on the program; segments on the E! cable network depicting Natalia Livingston of "GeneralHospital" getting ready for the awards show; and advertising in Us Weekly, published by Disney and Wenner Media. "Luminous Color Glaze is a very different product, so we were looking at alternative ways of reaching our consumer," said Michelle Messina, senior vice president at John Frieda Hair Care, a Kao unit. "There's only so much you can say, or want to say, in a TV spot or print ad," she said.

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